English Soccer Fans Banned From Matches After Making ‘Fascist Salutes’ At Jews

The Jerusalem Post reports: Two fans of the Southampton soccer club have been banned from attending English Premier League games for three years for making “fascist salutes” and “racist gestures” at Jewish fans during a recent match.

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Thomas Flynn, 22, and Michael Haydon, 23, pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive and insulting behavior in a religiously-aggravated public order offense, the Daily Mail Online reported. The men were charged for their behavior at a Dec. 19 Premier League match between Southampton and the Tottenham Hotspur.

Haydon, who had been drinking since morning, and Flynn also reportedly made hissing sounds meant to resemble the sounds of Nazi gas chambers.

“There was a white male raising his right hand and finger below his nose and making hissing sounds imitating gas escaping,” prosecutor Charles Nightingale said a Jewish Hotspur fan reported, according to the Daily Mail Online.